Camilla Parker Bowles, once reviled as the mistress who broke up Prince Charles’ marriage to Princess Diana, is suddenly playing happy families with the House of Windsor. And the popular press, who mercilessly mocked the long-time lovers in the chaotic runup to their marriage earlier this month, have declared a truce.

“Charles and Camilla both behaved badly in the past but now is the time to be more compassionate. It is a nice English trait,” Daily Mirror royal reporter James Whitaker told Reuters. But he added: “We won’t forget Diana.” For Camilla still has a tough act to follow. Polls still show less than one in 10 ever want Camilla to be Queen. One tabloid newspaper even depicted her as a horse. Some Diana supporters dubbed her “Cowmilla.” But Camilla’s demure manner at the wedding and elegant outfits won over the media and gained public plaudits.

So, with the heir to the throne and the newly titled Duchess of Cornwall honeymooning in Scotland, has the beleaguered British royal family turned the corner? Is Camilla to be accepted by The Firm, as the Windsors call themselves, now she is the second most senior female royal? Royal watchers believe hostilities have subsided but warn this could be just a break in the Windsor soap opera starring Britain’s most famous dysfunctional family. But in a land where one in three marriages ends in divorce, he too sensed forgiveness in the air. “We use the royal family as scapegoats and perhaps avoid our own shortcomings. It is easier to look at Charles and Camilla’s imperfections rather than our own,” Lacey said. Long gone are the days when Diana was dubbed “The Princess of Sales” for the wondrous effect her love life had on newspaper circulation. But at least the tabloids have backed off from their pre-wedding Camilla coverage when one splash headline read “Boring Old Gits To Wed.”

“There is a more generous feeling towards Charles and Camilla and the media are key to this,” said former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond. “Ironically the monarchy seems to be in finer fettle than it has been for a long time.” The tone was set at her first post-wedding walkabout when she and Charles broke off from their honeymoon to open a Scottish school playground and The Sun tabloid declared: “Scared Camilla shines on first royal duty.”

The truce could, however, be temporary. “It’s amazing what the right dress can do for a woman. Camilla enchanted everyone at the wedding as she scrubbed up (dressed) well for once,” said Judy Wade, royal correspondent for the celebrity magazine Hello.

<B>Paul Majendie</B>